Thursday, November 22, 2012

Life, interrupted...

In 1951, he had a few sexual encounters with a 19-year-old working class boy, Arnold Murray, and his house was burgled by one of Murray’s pals. During investigations, the police learnt about the gay activity. Turing had never made a secret of his orientation and he was hardly the only gay don. But he had got caught. He had to undergo a course of hormonal injections — a so-called experiment in “chemical castration”. He also came under relentless surveillance. Although he bore up with apparent good grace and continued with various lines of research, he was forced out of “sensitive” work. In June 1954, he ate a cyanide-laced apple.